Any suggestions on what program to use to build a web page? Also, ive seen crosswinds, redrival and other hosts mentioned. Which is a good one? -assuming i want decent speed, quite a bit of space, and extremely little to no ads.

As for space w/ no ads, I would probably suggest getting an actual host. I dunno who is good in that department tho, I just deal with tripod, and that works fine for me. I can FTP in or use there lil' prog, and it has cgi capabilites now... Only 11megs of space tho =(

Regarding hosts, tryout GeoCities ( http://www.Geocities.com/ ). They've just gotten in a new banner system which is compact and less annoying. No pop ups either. With them, you get 15MB space, and plenty of features to play with.

There was a bit of a fuss about Geocities calimig the riights to what's on their servers. I don't know what their current policy is, though.
The last I visited Crosswinds,it was horribly slow.
My page is at redrival. No ads, 20 megs of space, it's fast, FTP etc...
It's a good choice.

If you're new to html I definately recommend using something like DreamWeaver (MS Frontpage is EVIL!). At the same time teach yourself html coding, since notepad is the best tool for the job.

As for paying for server space. I think it's best to start off on a free site like tripod, angelfire or whoever. Then if you start getting some good traffic then swtich your site over to a dedicated server. You can use forwarding Url services to redirect it like http://welcome.to is a good one that's FREE!

i've been using notpad since 94 for html code,. it is by far the slowest, but the best html programming tool,. i have experimented with many many different tools for code, but none are simpler than notepad,. the only stable MS application

I definetly agree with B on this one, notepad has and probably will be my favorite HTML editor for awhile. With Frontpage and such there are always new buttons and commands to learn and new dialog boxes to fill out, and it is great when you learn them and easier. But sometimes Frontpage just doesn't let you see what is going on in the background, and with notepad you are coding EVERYTHING so you know what isn't and what is working in the site. (Just remember when coding with notepad, always have a HTML bible on your side ) Check out my site for some good reference books on HTML, DHTML, and XML

As for a GREAT webservice try Dencity, they give you 25 MB, with no popup adds or frame ads like xoom.com. They only require a little banner at the BOTTOM of your pages, and they add that automatically.

Check out my page below to test out the speed, it is a lot faster then crosswinds.net

Lot's a kewl stuff on there Chris. But i still think that web programs like DreamWeaver are still useful. I started my page with MS Frontpage and now i just edit it via notepad. They are just fast and pretty efficent when you need to get something out on short notice.

html bible? http://www.htmlgoodies.com .
i started out knowing alittle about html, i was doing logo's and graphic art for a little company over here in houston, they wanted a website, so i learned how to code, designed a site, all the logos and stuff. all i had was a little book on html 1.1, notepad, a mouse, and corel photopaint 3. since then i've tried all the big name programs, and they screw with my scripts, and code,. every now and then if i want a quick site i use MS word for the main outline, the add details with notepad, and text transmogrifier < http://www.anthrox.com/ >

I also started out knowing little about HTML and such, Unfortunately I didn't have htmlgoodies.com for help, but I did have a website to help me (can't believe it is still there http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2090/ wow 3 million visitors!) it isn't much but awhile back that is about all geocities had to tell me

You had a '?' after html bible...don't know what one is? A bible is a pure reference book for programming languages...like a Visual Basic Bible or a C bible. Well there is also one for HTML (probably several), what it contains is EVERY tag used for that version. It is around 1000-3000 pages and includes the keyword (tag) the description and a example or two to get you started on every tag, not much, but defentily makes pages unique.

I also started out knowing little about HTML and such, Unfortunately I didn't have htmlgoodies.com for help, but I did have a website to help me (can't believe it is still there http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2090/ wow 3 million visitors!) it isn't much but awhile back that is about all geocities had to tell me

You had a '?' after html bible...don't know what one is? A bible is a pure reference book for programming languages...like a Visual Basic Bible or a C bible. Well there is also one for HTML (probably several), what it contains is EVERY tag used for that version. It is around 1000-3000 pages and includes the keyword (tag) the description and a example or two to get you started on every tag, not much, but defentily makes pages unique.

I notice that none of you even mentioned Adobe Pagemill. This is what i used, and i think it worked fine. Its had an easy option that switches from code to page, easily. i liked it, but it seem's it has some limitations. anyway, if anyone has anyting to say about it, good or bad, i would like to hear it.
peace.

Ok, while HTML editors of sorts are all well and good do yourself a huge favor and learn HTML first. Spend a couple months with Notepad and Webmonkey.com, HTMLgoodies.com, etc. and just LEARN HTML, it's not that tough. Once you have HTML down well THEN get to using an editor, you'll be able to create page and actually improve the code that your editor is creating. Getting into using an editor without knowing how it works just contributes to the mess that already makes up 80% of the web.

As far as a WYSIWIG editor, Dreamweaver is the only one I've found useable as a professional. It writes decent code, lets you edit your code, and doesn't change things on you (often). HIGHLY recommended...

You know, Notepad really is a crappy, crappy, horrible, awful text editor. It doesn't even have a "replace" function! And its lack of hotkeys is frustrating. I'm all for using a text editor for HTML, but ANYTHING but Notepad!

I agree with FIG. While HTML editors are good, learning the even basic html code is essential to outputting a high quality site, or at least one that works. DW is the best that i have come across, altho adobe has a new one out called GO LIVE. I haven't gotten a chance to use this one, so if anyone else has, i'd like to hear about your experience with it. PageMill is 'ok', mainly cuz it's easy to use and not very expensive since everybody buys all their software (yeah right). But they are all tools, so use them to your advantage!!

homesite is another good html editor. some of its automatic functions are annoying but they can be turned off. it's also a great editor if you're dealing with a massive website with multiple directories and/or html files. i believe it's an open source program too, so it's always good to support that

ha, that made me giggle. dont forget this page is mostly for graphic artists. we're lazy people. i'm sure if we had the time to learn html we'd be more than happy to. but sorry you pathetic fuck, its just not on the priority list. you're obviously not one of us.

well, i can and have done that. but you know, its just irritating having to direct someone through the building and such. i mean, you never really know how good someone is anyways. not to mention that those webpage proggies give excellent control over construction. if anyone disrespects those who use them, its probably because they're bitter at the fact that programs can do in seconds, what they've spent years learning.

okay... while you spend 2 weeks typing out HTML code.... Ill spend 3 days making a pretty shweet interface... then making java rollover buttons... dhtml, some shockwave, and maybe even some neato layer effects in dreamweaver then when they see your piece of garbage page and say.. i wanna see something cool.... and they go to mine, and say, thats f-ing shweet shiznit and I get da cash cuz i can do it faster and more effeciently than you...